Chapter 4

Double Take

Uchiha Sasuke had never been an especially patient person, nor had he ever developed a penchant for laziness. He had lived much of his life working toward specific goals and so had spent little of it idly. The result relevant to the current situation was that Sasuke very rarely turned up late for anything, let alone the assigning of his first genin squad. It just wasn't how he operated.

He'd been standing outside the classroom window for about fifteen minutes, waiting for Tenten to finish listing the teams and listening in with basic chakra allocation to the ears. He'd passed the time evaluating each one. 'Infiltration team, heavy hitters, fodder, fodder, more fodder, tracking…' It was sort of sad how few teams had serious skills to work with. Very few possessed anyone from a clan and barely any civilian-borns ever possessed capabilities beyond the academy basics. He looked up at the sky, wondering idly if Tenten was dragging this out on purpose.

With a sigh, he straightened his newly acquired flak jacket and checked all his supplies; the weight of his chokuto was there at his hip, his shuriken were sealed into bandages on his wrists, his kunai pouch was fully stocked, exploding tags and other sealing equipment were in his chest pockets, and finally, there was an exploding tag under his headband, which was currently tied around his arm. Personal preference for staying alive aside, ANBU protocol tended to stick with you.

"… Team Nine, under Tokubetsu Jonin Ebisu. Finally, Uzumaki Omoide, Sarutobi Hiruzen and Yokoana Kengen will comprise Team Ten under Jonin Uchiha Sasuke. Your sensei should be arriving shortly." Sasuke smirked, 'Time to make an impression.' Barely a moment passed as Sasuke cleared his expression, formed a brief hand sign and disappeared in a flurry of lightning chakra, reappearing next to Tenten in a similar display of light. He felt an inward sense of accomplishment as several students yelped or "oooo"-ed at the sudden, bright shunshin.

"I am Uchiha Sasuke. I'm here for Team Ten." He made sure to keep his voice low and balanced, with just enough disinterested mixed in to annoy his new students. After all, he had a reputation to uphold. His inward smirk widened as he noticed Omoide raising an eyebrow, clearly unimpressed by his new sensei's showmanship. Both him and Hiruzen stood up and walked down the steps to him, while the team's third member, Kengen, came down the opposite set, clearly unhappy with something.

Sasuke gave them a quick once-over, and nodded. "Meet me on the roof." Then he disappeared again, this time forgoing the lightning. At the last moment, he caught something that sounded suspiciously like a muttered "Showoff."

Several minutes later, the three newly graduated boys filed out onto the roof, clearly annoyed with having been left behind to walk up the stairs. Sasuke himself was sitting much as Kakashi had on Team Seven's assignment day, leaning on the railing surrounding the Academy's roof. He motioned for the three to sit on the steps in front of him and took a moment to get a really good look at them.

Omoide was as usual; spikey blue-black hair pushed even further up by his ever-present goggles while his newly acquired hitae-ate hung around his neck in much the same way his mother wore hers. He was otherwise decked out in a faded turquoise t-shirt and dark blue pants. On the left side of his chest, there was a modified Uzumaki whirlpool, incorporating the flame motif and yellow outline of the Hyuga clan symbol. Hiruzen was in his usual tiger orange t-shirt and camouflage shorts, his hitae-ate proudly displayed on his forehead, tied in the classic headband style. Neither of these surprised Sasuke, he was after all, at least semi-acquainted with both.

But the last was a mystery. He was clad in black shinobi pants taped off at the ankles and a dark grey long-sleaved shirt displaying his clan's symbol in red on the shoulders. His Hitae-ate was tied in a bandana style over straight, forest green hair tied into a short ponytail at the back. He'd of course read Kengen's profile: he was the son of a civilian-born shinobi and a kunoichi from the Hagoromo clan. His grandparents on his mother's side had raised him after his parents and older sister had died in the battle against the Juubi. They were the last of the clan. Beyond that, nobody seemed to know much about him. He was supposedly skilled in his family's vibration-based ninjutsu, but he could field-test that later.

"Alright, as you know, I am Uchiha Sasuke. I've been selected by the Hokage to train you as a squad. It is my hope that you can be molded into a functioning group of shinobi." The team's reactions to this were mixed. Omoide and Hiruzen were their usual counterbalancing selves: restrainedly interested and happily exuberant respectively. There was a certain amount of annoyance in Kengen's green eyes, but he was at least paying attention. Sasuke continued, using the same disinterested, "I don't have time for this" tone as before.

"I know some of you, but all the same, I think we should introduce ourselves: explain our likes, dislikes, dreams for the future." He finished with an almost lazy wave toward the three graduates, indicating they should continue. Hiruzen looked questioningly at the other two before starting his introduction.

"My name is Sarutobi Hiruzen. I like playing shogi, training and Shikamaru-oji. I dislike… vegetables and being tired I guess. And my dream is to become a great shinobi, like my dad; one that kids will learn about in the Academy one day!" Sasuke betrayed no outward reaction. "Omoide, you go next."

"Okay, sure. My name is Uzumaki Omoide obviously. I like books, my mother and learning new things. I dislike morons and jerks. My dream for the future is to… I don't know. Become my own person I guess." Sasuke waved toward Kengen. The boy's eyes narrowed.

"My name is Yokoana Kengen of the Hagoromo clan. I like training. I hate traitors," his eyes focused on Sasuke momentarily, accusation clear in his gaze, "and bad music. My dream for the future is to rebuild my clan and return it to its rightful place in the village."

Sasuke was struck in that moment by how much this boy reminded him of himself. Obsession with his clan: check. Bad disposition: check. Large amount of hate directed at a person: check. Sometimes, he got the terrible feeling that the universe was watching his life and laughing at him. At times like that, he tended to either get depressed or angry, sometimes both. For the moment, though, he pushed the feeling off and focused on his task.

"Now that that's out of the way, I'm going to explain some things to you. Technically, you aren't genin yet." Hiruzen's mouth gaped open in horror and Omoide's eyes narrowed in annoyance. Kengen looked restrainedly murderous. It was the Sarutobi of the group who spoke up first. "What? Did we do something wrong? Are we going back to the Academy? Please tell me we're not going back to-" Sasuke silenced him with a sharp look and held his hand up. "Sarutobi Hiruzen, I am your commanding officer. When I'm talking, you shut up." Hiruzen quickly complied, though he looked fit to explode from anxiety.

"Like I said, you're not genin yet, the operative word being yet. There is a second test all graduates must pass, administered by their jonin sensei. The academy exam is used to weed out the hopeless cases. This test will decide if you're good enough for active duty." Hiruzen was practically steaming at the ears from too many pent up questions. Sasuke could have sworn that his face was starting to turn purple. With a sigh, the last Uchiha motioned for him to talk. Like a waterfall, his words spewed forth.

"Sensei, why didn't we know about it before, why does your hair do that thing in the back, is this your fist team, and why are your eyes turning red, what's the test going to be, am I talking to loud?" Sasuke blinked momentarily and turned his sharingan off. He hadn't activated it accidentally like that in years. The only explanation would be that Hiruzen had literally talked fast enough that it had activated instinctively to compensate… He couldn't decide if that was impressive or scary.

"Well… 1: It's a surprise, 2: my hair does that naturally, 3: yes, 4: it's a sharingan, 5: I was getting to that and 6: yes." Hiruzen blinked slowly, as though trying to process the answers correctly then smiled and sat back down. He hadn't even realized he was standing. "Cool, thanks!" Sasuke sighed inwardly and jumped back into his explanation. Hiruzen would be a handful… if the team passed, of course.

"The test will be one of survival… Survival against me." He paused for a moment; raising dramatic tension was something he had always been adept at. "We'll all meet in Training Ground Three tomorrow, at 9:30 in the morning. Be prompt, and don't eat breakfast unless you want to throw up. I'll explain the test then, but be sure to bring all your ninja tools. Goodbye." And with that, he disappeared in a whirl of leaves and air.

Hiruzen looked on for a moment, then turned to Omoide, incredulousness written all over his face. "How many different ways can he do that?" Omoide shrugged and stood up. "No idea. You wanna go train? I found a good clearing near the hot springs." Hiruzen nodded enthusiastically. "Hey, Kengen! You wanna-" But the boy was already jumping across to the next building, probably on his way to train alone. Omoide shrugged; the guy was a jerk anyway. "Come on, I have a feeling we're gonna need to practice hard for tomorrow." The two friends walked over to the stairs and started down, ready for a hard day's work.

-G

The next day, all three boys sat around three stumps in training ground. Well, Omoide and Hiruzen were sitting. Kengen was pacing. "He said to be here fifteen minutes ago! Where is that asshole?" Omoide's eyes narrowed dangerously. "He's no more of an asshole than you are, Kengen. Of course, that's not saying much, is it?" The green-haired boy whirled on his new teammate, clearly angry. "Shut up, Uzumaki!" Omoide raised an eyebrow. "You know, I expected better insults coming from the runner up for Rookie of the Year. I guess that's why you came in second, huh?" Kengen was furious. Omoide tensed in case the prodigy attacked. The two might have fought if Sasuke hadn't appeared at that moment.

"That's enough, both of you." The cold seriousness in the voice was enough to silence both boys. Hiruzen visibly relaxed as their yelling came to a halt. "Good, you're all here." Kengen glared at him. "You're late." Sasuke might have rolled his eyes if he wasn't so good at masking his emotions. He turned an unimpressed look on Kengen and decided that statement was best left ignored.

"Now, we are here today to perform your real genin test. I should tell you ahead of time, these test are designed to eliminate two thirds of your graduating class and mine is especially hard. If you want to quit, you should speak up now." He looked around for a second. None of the boys said anything, not that he'd expected them to. With a nod, he pulled two worn, metal bells from his pocket and held them up for all three to see.

"For this test, you will have to take these bells from me. You'll need to take and keep one bell to pass and get lunch." He gestured offhandedly to several boxes, which must have appeared with him. Hiruzen and Kengen both stared at the bells as though consumed by them. Omoide however, looked bothered, as though he couldn't quite figure something out. Sasuke filed the detail away for later. "If you don't manage to get a bell, not only will you not get lunch and be tied to a log so as to watch everyone else eat without you, you will also fail and be sent back to the academy for remedial training. As you can see, there are only two bells, meaning one of you is headed for the stump no matter what."

The boys' reactions were mixed. Omoide's brow furrowed, as though he were desperately trying to figure out some sort of puzzle. Hiruzen looked fairly annoyed and Kengen had that murderous glare back. 'That might get annoying.' "You will have two hours to get a bell and pass. If you don't by noon, you're going back to the academy, and disgrace." He casually leaned over and tied the bells to the right belt-loop of his pants and continued in the same informal, bored tone. "You can use any means necessary to take them. If you expect to even touch me, then you're going to have to attack with intent to kill."

It was then that Kengen made his move. Drawing a kunai, he drew back to launch it at his sensei. Or at least he would have if Sasuke hadn't appeared in front of him, holding the kunai's blade between his middle and index fingers, still looking bored. "I didn't say start yet."

Kengen was visibly shaken, his eyes widening. Sasuke held up his arm and peaked at his watch, displaying a self-satisfied, if a bit evil, smirk. "Don't jump the kunai, Yokoana, it'll get you killed. You've got a good… 10 seconds to wait." He released the kunai with a flick that sent Kengen stumbling back. After a few seconds, an alarm beeped lightly and Sasuke turned that same self-satisfied smirk on his prospective students. "Start." They scattered into the forest and Sasuke walked calmly toward the center of the field, adjusting his headband. 'This should be fun.'

Well, I told you the warm-up section was on its way to an end! I was hoping to have the introductions and the test in the same chapter, but the words ran away with me and now, here we are. Thanks for reading, and I hope you see fit to give this story a review, favorite, or even a follow, but really, it's up to you. Have a nice day.

Scavenger